Nothing makes the the evolution of automotive performance more obvious than watching grainy, VHS episodes of the original, old Top Gear, like the ones below from 1992 and 1993. Viewing an afro-coiffed Jeremy Clarkson wax poetically about the virtues of a car from the early 1990s is enough to make you run to your garage and hug your daily driver.

On old Top Gear, cars with acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in the 5s (i.e. Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi 3000GT) or, even more amazingly, in the low 6 second range (i.e. Jaguar XJS and Porsche 968) were enough to make 1990s Mr. Clarkson rather impressed. Nowadays, anything that takes longer than three-and-a-half seconds to sixty is downright pokey.

But, the best part of these two particular old Top Gear segments… the very best reason to watch the videos below is to see Jeremy’s prognostications for the future of cars and of the future, in general. They’re priceless. For example… Jeremy confidently announced that with the end of the 1980s, the world will see an end to mobile phones, personal digital organizers, Ray Ban sunglasses and striped dress shirts. Oh Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy… how wrong you were.

Good thing his review of the Jaguar XJR-S versus the Porsche 968 and the Mazda RX-7 versus the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 were… um, informative. I wonder if current Jeremy Clarkson agrees 1990s Jeremy Clarkson on his love of the XJS?